ATK wrote:Wasn't this contract suppose to have been awarded last year? Rebuilding the P40 fleet in addition to the "top deck overhaul" of the GP40's?

Well there was a different RFP put out a couple of years ago for a "top deck overhaul of 14 locomotives" presumably being the 8 P40s and 6 GP40-2H units.

Now seeing as it's for 12 units of the same model CDOT probably wanted to have a single class of diesels for maintenance purposes, etc. And with officials @ CDOT still insisting that the M-8s will be used to at least Old Saybrook in the not too distant future perhaps they figured won't need as many diesels for the Hartford Line and New London/any Westerly "pilot project" service.

Which begs the question of could it soon be time to retire the GP40s? Certainly by the time any other major expansion of service (New Milford, Waterbury-Hartford-Manchester) could happen the time will have come to replace/expand the fleet with new locomotives.

Looking at all of the requirements for the overhaul, which I assume is normal overhaul requirements, makes me wonder how safe or comfortable these engines are right now. I saw one a couple weeks ago in Old Saybrook and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned or taken care of in a while.

Although that of course does not speak to the inside of the locomotive which I assume is much better, but the curb appeal for the average passenger is just not there.

geez, those two pdf documents are photo scans. Not text searchable. I guess that makes it harder for a contractor to alter the bid documents like a certain automobile manufacturer did with a certain unit of the Wisconsin government (nothing to do with railroads), but it makes it hard to look through.

I see that part of the specifications call for inward facing cameras. I still don't understand how candid camera is going to prevent an engineer from making a mistake. In light of the whole ConnDOT/ John Rowland George Tomasso deal, maybe we can get the legislature to pass a bill calling for inward facing cameras in all state offices.

Those specifications are incredibly detailed. Do the vendors find that daunting? This seems closer to a remanufacture than an overhaul! Does CDOT have a good "track" record with their projects being on-time, quality & close to budget?

They have a good track record purchasing secondhand rolling stock cheaply to plug gaps, but they've never hung onto any of it long enough to reach a rebuild cycle milestone. SLE's entire history of rolling stock was one of dilapidated old junk in 1990...traded-up to ever-so-slightly less dilapidated old junk in the mid-90's...traded up to lightly worn not-junk in the '00s.